State of the Māori Nation

Mihi.

Tihēi Mauri Ora!

First let me congratulate Dr Lance O’Sullivan for winning Māori of the Year announced today. He is an inspiration for us all; working with whānau and communities at the grass-roots making a real difference.

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Tēnā koutou katoa.

As I stand here, I think about my tipuna Te Haapuku who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Treaty of Waitangi on behalf of my Iwi, Ngāti Kahungunu. I think about the status of the Māori Nation today, upholding the spirit of those tīpuna that signed the Treaty, upholding that spirit of rangatiratanga, that spirit of kaupapa—and I feel proud.

As I look across the cultural, economic, social and political landscapes, I’m proud of the achievements of all who were and are involved in Kōhanga Reo, Kura Kaupapa Māori, Whare Kura, Whare Wānanga, Iwi Rūnanga, Māori Trusts, Te Taura Whiri i Te Reo, Te Ohu Kaimoana, Te Huarahi Tika Trust, Te Māngai Paho, Māori Television, Māori Health Providers, Iwi Social Services and the list goes on.

I acknowledge that their achievements could not have been realised without the supporting infrastructure of bodies such as the Waitangi Tribunal, and the political courage of previous governments to build this infrastructure.

I’m humbled by the steadfast commitment of the ahi kaa, and to all who have done what they can, with what they have, to keep their families and whānau strong. They are the ones who have recognised and nurtured our strengths so that we can make a difference. They are the ones who remind us of what has yet to be achieved.

So, with pride and humility I stand before you to deliver my address on the State of the Māori Nation. I will discuss issues relating to the scope of the Māori Affairs portfolio, and take time to reflect as Co-Leader of the Māori Party.

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Let’s start with the Māori Economy—a reawakening taniwha —that has increased from $16 Billion in 2006 to $36 point 9 Billion in 2011. In that period, the real growth in the size of the asset base was $5 point 7 Billion. Put another way that represents growth of 4 point 3 per cent per annum. This has been achieved despite very little research and development funding, access to capital or equity, and antiquated legislation and regulations.

Along with Minister Steven Joyce, I have implemented The Crown-Māori Economic Growth Partnership Strategy. Through that strategy, I want to lift educational achievement, ensure an economically sustainable use of natural resources, and see growth in new markets. Addressing structural issues and providing windows of opportunities will result in benefits across all whānau, all hapū, all iwi, and all people of New Zealand.

I know that Māori, Small Medium Enterprises and Iwi alike, have been successfully building relationships, building wealth and have advanced what I have often called the Māori Edge: building economic relationships on Māori identity and culture through powhiri, whakatau, whakatauki and kaupapa.

Nowhere is this more evident than in China with various Māori delegations making significant inroads based on the importance of cultural world views, cultural customs and cultural relationships. The Māori Economy has an immense portfolio of natural resources and human capital. What could happen when you add the Māori edge and a greater commitment to a Crown-Maori partnership growth model? Well, watch this space.

And, here’s a thought, what could happen if you apply this model to achieve a bilingual Aotearoa New Zealand? In saying this I want to acknowledge the many cultures that are transforming the Aotearoa New Zealand cultural landscape. We are a much richer nation for the diversity that this brings and I want to encourage us all to embrace and celebrate this transformation. And on this note—I invite you all to attend the Taniwha-Dragon Powhiri at Orakei Maori on 27th of April. It will be a powhiri and cultural festival that inaugurates and celebrates the relationship between Māori and Chinese peoples.

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I came in as Minister in 2008, two years after the global financial crisis. Maori and Pasifika were again economically vulnerable, and we can’t ignore the widespread impact of the Rogernomics reforms of the 1980s, and the employment and welfare reforms of the 1990s, that compounded that vulnerability. On top of these was a tighter control in government spending vis-à-vis zero budgets and the Christchurch Earthquakes.

Nevertheless, in this time, the Māori Party, led by the Honourable Tariana Turia, has fought for Whānau Ora. The transformation of whānau through whānau setting their own direction is both visionary and pragmatic. It exemplifies the best of Kaupapa Māori. Its potential to transform not only whānau but society must be realised. It deserves full support from all political parties.

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Before I address the Constitutional Review, I ask you this: in which other country can an indigenous political party initiate a review of that country’s constitution? None. We are leading the world.

As we reflect on the role of the Treaty, reflections on the possibilities of partnership must surely come to mind.

The Constitutional Review has been underway since 2010. Me te patai nui—what is the role of the Treaty of Waitangi in our constitutional arrangements? - Ae, he piiki patai nē. Big question, I know. But, this is an opportunity for all to contribute to real change in this country, to have a say in what the future looks like constitutionally, the basis on which our future values and principles will take shape. Above all else, we also need to recognise and respect that real constitutional change takes time.

I for one am really looking forward to hearing your ideas on what our future constitution would look like—for example—should New Zealand Parliament have its own Treaty senate; what about a permanent assembly of Māori iwi leaders in the house?...Could the arrival of the ‘kūmara’ become a statutory holiday?... and my colleague Te Ururoa Flavell’s favourite—should MPs be given the choice whether to swear allegiance to the Treaty or not?

Māori have reached the point of initiating a constitutional review after years of raising and mobilising consciousness through protests, land marches, land occupations and Ngā Tamatoa. Since the mid-1990s, Māori have protected and advanced rights and interests through parliament, government and decision making. Once disempowered by the political system, now Māori often influence the balance of power.

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The upcoming Māori Electoral Option that begins in March will be one of the most significant political turning points of our time affecting the balance of power in this country. It has the potential to give birth to 6 new Māori Electoral Seats, 13 Māori Seats in total, if all of our people enrolled on the Māori roll. We must seize this opportunity.

Through the Māori Party and National Party confidence and supply agreement the seats are here to stay—until Māori say otherwise. This is the understanding we achieved.

But we cannot take the seats for granted.

Consider the risk posed by Labour. Placing candidates in Māori seats that are subject to Pākehā leadership; to a Pākehā caucus; to a Pākehā kaupapa is tantamount to abolition. Remember the foreshore and seabed?

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Alongside the Constitutional Review, in my capacity as Co-Leader, I would go so far as to say that most New Zealanders now understand the importance of the Treaty as a tool that has the potential to safeguard the assets of Aotearoa New Zealand. Only last week was the Treaty at the centre of the case presented by the water claimants to the Supreme Court. We know the stakes are high.

These are clear examples of how Treaty lives today that we can be proud of. It provides us with a moral compass as we continue to work together in Aotearoa. It provides us an economic foundation for wealth and prosperity, and it continues to frame our political landscape.

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The first area I talked about was the Crown and Maori committing to a partnership to further the economic development of the Maori economy. I then highlighted the need to fully realise Whānau Ora to redress social and economic inequalities.

The Constitutional Review offers a real opportunity for all to shape the future constitutional framework of Aotearoa and New Zealand.

The Māori Electoral Option provides an opportunity for Māori to increase political leverage. The closing section highlighted the role of the Treaty in determining the future ownership of water rights.

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Now let us consider how we organise ourselves and the actions we undertake.

Protest is important in opening the doors. It is equally important for progress to follow; a cycle of consciousness and transformation that we as a nation move through. I believe that we have to continue to move from a mode of protest to one of progress.

While Māori continue to mobilise dissent, raise awareness about important issues and hold the authorities to account—Māori have also successfully established structures and entities across a range of sectors developing policy frameworks, managing natural resources, delivering services for our people, and making positive contributions to our maturing sense of nationhood.

However, in another respect, this observation does not adequately capture the dependent relationship between the two. That protest and progress goes hand in hand, back and forth, up and down. In academic terms I am talking about political praxis. In other words, rangatiratanga is expressed in multiple forms of activism, multiple forms of courage and resilience.

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The most obvious form of activism recognised today is the protest or the hīkoi—holding placards, waving flags, marching down streets, rallying communities, holding wānanga at Marae, to bring attention to injustices wherever they may appear. This is not only a cornerstone of a healthy democracy, but an essential part of rangatiratanga – raising and mobilising our people’s consciousness, our people’s voice.

Protest and Hīkoi has been a long-standing tradition of Māori political activity.

Another form of activism is claims at the Tribunal and our Courts, petitions to Parliament and submissions to Government or Councils. Drawing on the institutions of the State, this mode of activism seeks to formally trigger mechanisms that will bring about a judgement, and hopefully initiate a process, to protect an unprotected Māori right and interest: again an essential part of rangatiratanga.

Activism is also demonstrated by our Iwi all around the country. Establishing themselves as independent authorities to manage their own lands and resources represents the traditional expression of rangatiratanga. A key part of this is upholding the rangatira ki te rangatira relationship with the Crown as demonstrated with the signing of the Treaty in 1840. Today it is expressed through negotiating Treaty Settlements that began in 1992 and more recently with the Iwi Leaders Forum.

The last form of activism I would like to highlight is the work of the Māori Party—representing the independent Māori voice at Cabinet regardless of who is in Government. This is another essential part of rangatiratanga, making sure the Prime Minister, Ministers of the Crown, and other decision makers across the State are well aware of the Māori worldview.

We might argue the merits or nature of influence each form of activism does or does not create, and of course, there are other multiple forms of activism.

The point is: they are all essential parts to the advancement of rangatiratanga, the state of the Māori Nation.

Each form of activism plays a crucial role. Each form of activism has its own limits and possibilities. Each form of activism is resilient and courageous. We can celebrate this, we can celebrate and acknowledge our different strategies; we can have unity.

When we fight amongst ourselves, when we fight over who is more effective, we miss the wider kaupapa completely. We are all important, we are all effective, we are all courageous, we are all Māori. This is kotahitanga. E tātou ma, kati te whawhai i a tatau – ma te mahitahi ka tutuki te kaupapa.

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Across activism there is an emerging gap however in the State of the Māori Nation. This gap is a generational gap that is occurring across multiple sectors.

Since the 1960s through our cultural and political renaissance, activism was almost characterised, by defining, capturing and developing new spaces. For example: the emergence of Kōhanga, Kura, Wānanga, Rūnanga, Māori Fisheries, Māori Television and so forth.

We saw that we were being denied something, being denied a space, so we captured it, and built something in it, built entities, to give us security, to give us self-determination, and then we would almost go to a check-list and tick it off – yes, having our own television station with spectrum—tick! What’s next?

And across the activism spectrum there was almost a romanticised feeling to our deeds, being involved in the establishment of Māori Television, it sounded cool; and if your name was mentioned as a pioneer, a sense of place in history was achieved as well.

The need to define, capture and develop new spaces needs to continue. There is a lot more to do. However, some years have now passed since the emergence of some our original entities. What is required is a new generation of activism that aims to consolidate these original spaces.

Colonisation or post-colonisation did not simply end when we established these entities. These wider power structures continue to reproduce and act on our entities. To hold integrity to the original kaupapa and vision as well as adapt and evolve just like our tipuna, we must encourage our young Māori leaders coming through to hold the fort and consolidate these spaces.

There is just as much rangatiratanga in consolidating an original space as there is finding that new space and capturing it.

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In the final part of my speech tonight I would like to issue a challenge. Tū Māori Mai, Tū Māori Mai! I was recently reminded of this whakatauki which came from Sir James Henare when he was commanding the 28th Māori Battalion. Before going on to the battlefields, Sir James would remind his troops of the importance of who they were, what they were fighting for and why they volunteered—to stand-up and be counted as Māori, to have pride in being Māori, to be unified in their strength of purpose, and understand the journey they were on, their place in history—Tū Māori Mai! Tū Māori Mai!

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Tū Māori Mai means stand up and be counted. Own your whakapapa. Own your history. Declare yourself He Māori Ahau, He Māori Ahau—I am a Māori, I am a Māori. Think of our tīpuna who crossed the oceans, Te Moananui a Kiwa, who took up the challenge, to seek new horizons, and brought that courage to Aotearoa as a foundation for our ahi kaa. This is who we are—we live through them as they are living through us.

In politics, Tū Māori Mai is just as important. In advancing the Māori voice through Parliament, through Cabinet, the Māori Party is defined by kaupapa, we are neither left or right, we can work with both Labour and National.

Without a doubt times have been tough. Clearly both National and the Māori Party have different world views but a constructive and honourable relationship has always prevailed.

The zero-budgets have also been tough.

To finally have a Māori Party in government only to arrive at a point in history when there is a global recession and no money to spend really takes the proverbial cake—especially when our people are disproportionately disadvantage or represented.

We have come under criticism from commentators on the left that we are too close to National or that the Māori Party is not doing enough to address the low socio-economic status of Māori. Certainly, I would admit we have a lot more work to do in this area—but here’s a reality check for those opinions—Māori are not simply defined by their socio-economic status; we are defined by our culture, our whakapapa.

And quite frankly, Māori problems require Māori solutions, by Māori, for Māori—Tū Māori Mai. Whānau Ora is leading this across the social sector; Whare Oranga Ake across the corrections; and the Māori Economic Unit across the economy. But this is only the beginning.

The wero before all political parties is to realise the independent Maori political voice is here to stay. Increase the opportunities for partnership. Unleash the potential of partnership and celebrate our collective achievements.

And the wero for Māori is unity.

We are not our enemy.